To Save His Sister
by karkashan
Summary: He would do anything, be anyone. Even a Chosen Hero. LOZ retelling/spin-off of Potential of Man and Moblin.


**Prologue:**

The Sun set over the grand capital of Hylia, its ember rays a somber accent to the light given off by the smoldering ruins of a conquered city. A woman's scream cut through the dull roar of conquest; a cacophony of sounds, like the noise of a building collapsing or the hiss of a Lizalfos calling to its brethren that prey was near, added unique harmony to what would've been otherwise an uninspired scream of terror.

_"This will never be over," said the sorcerer as he fell to his knees, "not so long as darkness exists."_

Treasury Minister Galtrald gazed sadly upon the still burning remains of his once prosperous and beloved city that he had served for over 30 years to the best of his ability. The tower his rooms were located in had yet to fall to the dark hordes of the Emperor of Malice, but both he and the other occupant in the room knew it was simply a matter of time before the inevitable happened and they were both cruelly slain.

"Galtrald," softly spoke an old woman draped in crimson robes, marked with the symbols of Hylian nobility, "the last of the artifacts have been magically transported out of here. All that needs to be done has been accomplished, save for the final task."

"I know, Brunhilde," the old man replied. His voice sounded strained, tired, even to him. As if he had witnessed everything great about the world be cruelly slaughtered and trampled before his eyes. In a way, he thought to himself, he supposed he had.

_"Your kind will always be plagued by the scions of darkness. You will never escape your destiny of blood. So says the Nightmare, so says the Dark World, so says the Darkness."_

But he did not have time to grieve. "Are you sure you wish to stay behind, Red?" he asked with a slightly amused tone in his voice, no doubt stemming from the use of a nickname that had long faded with the color of the locks of hair that had once made this woman standing in front of him stand out from all the rest.

Brunhilde chuckled wryly, "You haven't call me that in almost 15 years, dear. Since before our son somehow managed to get married to Queen Zelda. And yes, dear, I'm going to stay with you to the bitter end. We'll cut off the transport from out side forever. Should give those young whippersnappers a good 50 years of peace while living in hiding."

_"You will try to hide, my traitorous little pet. But it will be for naught. This man you allied yourself with? He will betray you, given enough time."_

"Well then," he started to reply, "I suppose we should-"

He was interrupted, however by a large metal fist punching it way through the large oaken door that led to the stairway. The fist unclenched with a flourish, releasing a shockwave of dark energy at the two elderly Hylians within. Then, as quickly as the fist had entered through the doorway it disappeared. A foot slammed into the door, ripping it from its hinges with such force it flew across the room and out over the balcony. A few short seconds passed.

A woman's scream stopped.

A tall, heavily armored creature strode into the room with confidence, before kneeling in front of a complex pattern written in glowing ink on the floor. A gauntleted hand lightly scraped its metal claws over the artistic representation of magic etched onto the stone floor. "I see," said the creature, "this is how they managed to escape."

_"Don't you dare speak of him that way!" roared the bipedal creature, before it lunged at the sorcerer and sank its fangs into his flesh._

Galtrald couched up blood as he stared confusedly at the armored being before him. That voice… No, it was impossible. There's no way it could ever be- "Borin, is that you?"

The creature shook his head as two armed Stalfos Knights entered into the room behind him. "You have me mistaken for someone else, human. I am the Darknut, General of the South and servant of the Emperor." He turned to the two unliving skeletons. "Begin the process to connect to the transport. We must not allow the deposed rulers of Hyrule to escape the savage mercy of our Lord."

_"Gal, you can stop now. He's dead. Hyrule has been saved."_

"You won't touch them!" shouted Brunhilde, who shoved the Scrying Basin onto the enchantment circle. Darknut moved to slam her into the wall, and the force of the blow that connected shattered her bones and severed her spinal cord, killing her instantly. Unfortunately, he had moved too late, and the teleportation enchantment was lost forever.

"No!" both the Darknut and Galtrald shouted together, but for entirely different reasons. The Darknut was upset that he had lost the one chance to swiftly hunt down and destroy the Royal Family of Hyrule, and Galtrald was enraged, not only at the loss of his wife, but at realizing that he no longer could control the impulses he thought he had long suppressed.

With a shudder and a great flash of light, Gal Tra the Omni-Wolf replaced Galtrald the man, the hulking werewolf still as intimidating as ever, even after all of those years.

_"Gal," said a young knight with blond hair, "it's over. This nightmare is over. You can let go of your hatred now."_

"_But how?" snarled the near feral werewolf. "How can one such as I let go of my hatred, when that was what I was created from? Don't you see, Hero? I have no place in the world without war, without strife, without chaos."_

The Darknut unsheathed his mighty blade, leveling it the fearsome creature before him. "Interesting," said he, "to think I would find a remnant of Vaati's machinations even now, after all these long years. I give thanks to the Nightmare, for gifting me with one last worthy opponent before the end of conflict. Have at you then, beast."

"_Gal, would you like the chance to become human?"_

_Gal hesitated at this, "I, I don't know. I have always been what I am now. I don't know if I can-"_

The werewolf howled and launched itself at its opponent straight on. Its claws screeched through the air towards the dark knight's throat, but the Darknut was quick to sidestep the attack and counter with a sword slash of his own.

The werewolf, however, would not be so easily felled. It bit down on the steel blade attempting to decapitate it, stopping the assault entirely. It growled deep in its throat, gripped the Darknut's shoulders, and snapped the sword in two. Snarling, it bit down savagely upon its enemies neck, trying to rip apart the armor in its way with savagery, strength, and teeth alone.

_"Gal," the young knight said, "you are one of the bravest creatures, human or otherwise, I have ever known. Your sense of honor, justice, and mercy is eclipsed only by the Goddesses themselves. You are already a shining example of what it truly means to be a wonderful human being."_

_Gal shuffled his feet as he began to act shyly in the face of his friend's praise. "If there is the chance, someday, that it could happen…"_

The Darknut was not one to simply lie down and have himself get mauled to death, so he charged his fists with dark power, slipped his arms free of the werewolf's grasp, and gripped the jaws around his neck with all of the strength he had left. "In the name of Ganon!" he shouted with a thunderous voice.

_"…could I possibly call you my brother?" Gal finished with a note of hesitation lacing his voice._

"**Darknut destroys!"**

The tower shook, the stones that had been fitted together for a thousand years rattling against each other, while thousands of dark soldiers looked on. There was an instant of deadly silence, before the last bastion of Hylian resistance on the overworld was engulfed in a gigantic column of purple flame and mass destruction.

* * *

><p>"I would be honored if you would refer to me as such, my brother."<p>

The Stalfos Knight turned on his undead horse to glance at his commanding officer. "Excuse me, General, did you say something?"

The First Darknut shook his head in the negative. "No Captain, I did not." Glancing to his right, he noticed something peculiar; a gray wolf standing amongst the trees of the forest, its emerald eyes gazing at the dark army column with a modicum of interest. "Actually, Captain, I'd like to ask you something."

"Whatever you command, my Lord."

"That wolf over there, about a hundred meters to the east of us, what country would you think that hails from?"

"Forgive me, my Lord, for I cannot see the wolf you are referring to."

"Truly?" as the First Darknut, before glancing back towards his right. But this time when he looked, it was gone completely from sight. "Must've scampered off."

"After what happened in these woods 48 years ago, that doesn't surprise me that the wildlife would still be somewhat skittish," his second-in-command, the Stalfos Captain said. The skeletal warrior shivered slightly, "That day, the Emperor proved his dominance to the entire world."

"Indeed," was all the First Darknut said in reply, before urging his steed to pick up the pace.

* * *

><p>A small boy patted a young wolf-pup's fur as the gray furred animal licked its friend's face in a sloppy, yet happy, greeting.<p>

"Don't go doing that again, Bo," the young blond-haired boy said in his best imitation of a stern voice. "You nearly scared me half to death, almost marching up to that column of Stalfos like that. What were you thinking?"

Apparently Bo decided the best answer was to give his friend another lick to the face, so he went with that.

The small boy giggled, "C'mon, Bo! Stop it, that tickles and I'm trying to give you a tecture!"

A young teenage girl laughed sweetly behind the boy. "I believe the correct word you're looking for is 'lecture', Link."

The young Link grinned appreciatively at her, "Thanks sister!" He turned back to his puppy friend. "See, Bo? I'm trying to give you a lecture, which means you need to stop licking me and start listening to me."

The young wolf-pup stared at Link, then at the boy's sister, then back at Link. Bo seemed to shrug (in a wolfish way, of course) and decided another lick to the face was an appropriate response to this mysterious 'lecture' Link was talking about.

Both of the humans giggled softly at Bo's antics. Offering a hand to her little brother, the young girl asked him, "Are you ready to go back home, Link? I talked to Uncle, and he said he finally finished the leak in the roof of the cave."

Link's elated attitude deflated somewhat after he heard this. "Oh."

"What's wrong Link?" his sister asked.

Link scratched the back of his head as he thought of an answer. "I dunno, I just thought I would get to help out finally…"

His sister smiled softly at her brother's willingness to help others, and ruffled Link's hair as she said something she knew would cheer him up. "Well, Link," she began, "I asked Uncle if he could do me a favor, and he said he could only do that if you didn't tag along today, since this favor involved you."

This perked Link up a bit, "Really? What was it?"

Saying nothing, his elder sister gave him a short, wooden sword. Barely able to contain his excitement, the young boy marveled at the craftsmanship that went into making the blade in his hands. Etchings lined the outer rim on either side of the flat of the blade, telling a story, in Hylian of course, of a man whose sword talked to him and helped him fight in epic battles across the skies.

"Does this mean?" Link barely managed to breathe out, lest all the pent up excitement explode out of him.

His sister nodded at him. "Yes, Link, it does. Uncle has finally agreed to start teaching you swordsmanship." She smiled wryly, "Though I don't think you'll be doing anything altogether too fancy just y-oof"

His sister was cut off as Link gave her the biggest bear hug in the history of bear hugs he'd given people (which was, as of last count, 12 this year). "Thank you so much, Zelda! You're the bestest sister ever."

His grin infectious, Link's sister, Zelda, smiled back at him and ruffled his hair. "You're welcome little brother. Now then, let's get you home and washed up; it's almost time for dinner, you know."

As the two blond haired siblings walked back into the massive Hylian Cave network, a stone slab slammed behind them, the edges of the rock stretching to fill the gap, until nothing marked the location of the entrance, save a slowly fading series of runes surrounding the crest of the Third Order of the Hyrulian Knights, and an old adage written in ancient Hylian. But soon, that too faded from view, leaving the forest with only the memory of those words which had changed from helpful advice to law of the world for those Hylians left to the world of the living.

It's dangerous to go alone

* * *

><p>TBC<p>

AN: Well, here we go. The prequel story to "Potential of Man and Moblin". An expanded universe retelling of the original Legend of Zelda.

This is not gonna strictly follow canon (as canon, at least the original game, doesn't give a whole lot to work with) and will follow some of my ideas, but I'm going to try to weave the "Official Nintendo Zelda Timeline Thingy" into this as well. (Though, admittedly, that's going to play an extremely minor part in this)

Hope ya'll enjoy. Until next time.


End file.
